


everything under the sun

by sunlian



Category: Jade Empire
Genre: Character Study, Gen, Post Game
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-27
Updated: 2018-11-27
Packaged: 2019-08-30 02:26:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,560
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16756114
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunlian/pseuds/sunlian
Summary: Dawn Star, after.





	everything under the sun

**Author's Note:**

> This has been a wip for a while and it’s a little weird but I like it

According to legend, the Imperial Palace was so placed because from its’ highest points, Sagacious Tien could see the entirety of of his empire, from north to south and east to west. He could gaze out from his great palace and see everything under the sun. Its’ presence turned a small, unnamed village into the great capital of the world's’ most advanced civilisation.

A dying woman saw a temple burning from the heights of her room, gasping out the name of her daughter, surrounded by slaughtered midwives and assassins, while an honourable traitor stood frozen, clutching the newborn in his blackened and bloodied arms. 

But that doesn’t sound quite as poetic. 

———

When she thinks about how many people across the Empire have actually visited the Imperial Palace, and how many people have done so more than once, Dawn Star supposes that, statiscally, she visits the great floating fortress quite often. Compared to average citizen, at least. 

It’s difficult to reach the city, nowadays. Not because she lack the means to travel, or because the roads are dangerous- they’re far safer than she can ever remember them being- but because it’s getting harder to pull herself away from the school. 

It was easier ten years ago, when she was still travelling, not anchored to anything except the friendships she had. But back then, she didn’t. She visited the city, yes, a few times, but never went back up to the palace. She couldn’t have, anyway; the entire place was thrown into a frenzy.

That’s what she told herself, anyways. 

The truth, she accepted much, much later, was that she simply could not stand the place. It was too much. Too big, too grand, too maze-like and confusing. It made her heart ache, in a strange way, to look up at it and think that she could’ve very well have been raised there. Staring up at it for too long brought back painful memories; the distant cracking of bone, a choking final gasp- 

No, she can’t go back there. She’s not her cousin; she can’t swallow down that kind of pain and hide it behind a carefully crafted mask.  
(and her black-clad hands still shook when they went back; she and the then-princess still struggled to get along, but Dawn Star knows what it feels like to come back home, and find it’s anything but.)

So, she simply never went. Five years wandering, travelling, learning, seeing the Empire, watching it shift and heal and change, and then home, her real home, tugged at her spirit until she listened to it, and so there she went.

And there she stayed. 

She’s not so self-absorbed to think that Two Rivers rebuilt around her; by the time she returned, the most unstable of the ruins had been cleared, the statue of Sun Hai removed, and the flowers she planted had sprung up, healthy and obviously cared for. 

Gujin’s shop was gone. So were many of the wooden houses. But the center of the town was stone, and the school was charred by stood yet strong.  
(strong enough for her to find the little indents on the frame of Master Li’s- of the master quarters, where year after year, her former mentor had marked the steadily growing heights of herself and Ling, patiently reminding them to stay still, patting their heads when they did so, and smiling serenely and remarking on their progress, on how everyday they both grew older, and stronger, and how proud he was, of both of them. She wishes the memory didn’t taste so foul now.)

There were a few people, survivours, mostly, lead away by Kia Min, and then back again, because between the marsh and vastness of the Golden Delta, of the Jade Empire itself, where were they supposed to go? They weren’t warriors, nor adventurers. They were ordinary people, in terrible, extraordinary circumstances. They were exactly what Dawn Star wasn’t. 

She’s not sure if she fitted the leadership role, or the leadership role twisted and shifted until it fitted her, but as weeks turns to months, as makeshift huts turned into houses, and green crept through the ash, she found herself advising the builders, talking to the merchants, training a small but dedicated militia. 

Except, it wasn’t a militia. They were too small, too young, and in lack of anywhere else to train, Dawn Star moved them into the old school. So maybe, it shouldn’t be been as surprising as it was when one of them, a fresh-faced girl who couldn’t have been more than fifteen, called her “Master.” 

It twisted, churned inside her, and the word seemed to scream in her mind; too much, too soon, you’re not a teacher, you can never be one-  
She sent the girl on an errand and prayed that it was a one-off, an old habit. Even though she knew that if the village was ever to truly recover, the school would have to reopen. Even though she was more than qualified, in skill and ability, it felt wrong for her to lead it.

After all, she hadn’t told the others the truth behind the sacking. 

But again, perhaps as a reward, or a lesson, the community turned to her, and her role shaped around her yet again. She wasn’t just an experienced voice anymore. She was a teacher, a guardian, a leader.  
She was the Master of Two Rivers School.

Five years passed, and the village came back to life. Not the same, no, never the same. New faces, old and young and inbetween. New buildings made of brighter wood were now lived in, not just built. Slowly, new students made their way to this small place at the edge of the Empire. A lot of them knew who Dawn Star was, more than she expected, and truthfully, she didn’t know what to do with the recognition. So she reminded them she was their teacher first, and a folk hero second, and it worked. For the most part. There were always some who pried, usually discouraged by the others with hissed out whispers and quiet conversations in the kitchen hall.

And for the first time since she was dragged out into that cave, Dawn Star felt at peace.

And that made it very hard to leave. 

Aside from the odd venture into the swamp to clear out bandits, or to help guide travellers and merchants through the murky marsh, the furthest she strayed from Two Rivers since returning was Tien’s Landing. The small town had also flourished in the same ten years, but a lot of the people remembered her face, maybe most importantly among them, the workers at the tea house. Two Rivers is really too small to merit having one, and she is yet to find anyone who can steep and brew tea as well as Yanru. 

It was also as close to Two Rivers as Ling could get.

She tried. She returned once, to help the restless spirits find rest, and then she couldn’t bear it. Every time she reached the farms on the border, just past the swamps, something inside her twisted and broke all over again.

So they meet in Tien’s Landing whenever they can. 

But that’s never often enough, between the time it takes for Dawn Star to travel there, her responsibility as Master, and Ling’s own duties, they’re lucky to meet once a year, if that. It is perhaps the one part of Dawn Star’s life that brings her regret.

“You should visit, sometime. The palace, I mean,” Ling says idly one day, and while she doesn’t exactly choke on her tea, Dawn Star still takes a moment to make sure it goes down right.

Visit? Of all the places to visit? She didn’t belong there, didn’t want to be there, and couldn’t ever be there. 

“I could probably invite Sky along as well- he’s still in the city the last I heard from him.”

It’s true that she had not seen the charming rogue in a very long time, and some part of her relished the idea of meeting up with an old friend, but an overwhelming part of her was telling her she couldn’t and wouldn’t go. Beyond any personal reason, she had a school and a village to worry about now.

But…

But at the same time, she missed her friends. A part of her also missed travelling. And her oldest students were strong, and she had Kia Min there as well. Surely Two Rivers would be safe in her absence?

Maybe one trip wouldn’t hurt. Dawn Star knows she’s made the right choice when Ling break out into a brilliant grin.

———

According to legend, the Imperial Palace was so placed because from its’ highest points, Sagacious Tien could see the entirety of of his empire, from north to south and east to west. He could gaze out from his great palace and see everything under the sun. Its’ presence turned a small, unnamed village into the great capital of the world's’ most advanced civilisation.

In one of the smallest rooms, overlooking the Market District and the horizon beyond, a humble teacher sat with the Saviour of the Empire, sipping at a cool drink, while the Empress played Yi with the leader of the Guild. 

Sometimes life was a lot simpler then the legends, and Dawn Star was glad for it.


End file.
